Men vs. Women: How They Differ in Real Estate
It’s the battle of the sexes in a new analysis by Trulia, which pits the sexes against each other to find out whether male or female real estate agents tend to list the most homes, whom tends to list the priciest homes for sale, and which sex is outnumbered in the industry.
Some of Trulia’s findings:
-Who dominates: More women work in real estate than men, according to Trulia. For example, Trulia found big pockets where females outnumbered men in the industry, such as in Mississippi and Oklahoma where there are 64 percent more women working as real estate agents than men.
-Who lists the most homes: Men tend to list more homes for sale, according to Trulia, when looking at the average number of homes that men and women put up for sale by state. For example, in North Dakota, men had 129 percent more homes for sale on the market than females.
-Who lists the priciest homes: Female real estate professionals tend to list more expensive homes than males, according to Trulia. In West Virginia, for example, homes for sale by female real estate agents were 63 percent more expensive than those listed with male agents. (Trulia notes in its article that pricing a home to sell factors in a lot of things about the property and neighborhood and does not necessarily reflect how aggressive an agent is on the pricing.)
Source: “Is Real Estate a Man’s or Woman’s World?” Trulia Blog (Oct. 13, 2011)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC
Job Market Keeping Real Estate Down
The University of San Diego’s 11th annual residential real estate conference this week was focused on jobs and how unemployment is preventing people from buying homes.
Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist at the California Association of REALTORS®, said, “Jobs are really the key. That’s where the focus needs to be.”
University of San Diego economist Alan Gin said companies of all sorts, including those in the real estate industry, are poised to expand. “They’re waiting for signs that the economy is firming before jumping in,” he said.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune (12/15/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC
A Light at the End of the Commercial Tunnel
Observers of the commercial real estate market in California are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.
“After eighteen months of pessimism about office and industrial markets we are now seeing indications that, after the markets hit bottom later in this year or early next year, they will follow the pattern of increased non-residential construction coming two to three years after the end of the recession rather than the pattern of a multi-year stasis in this sector,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist and an author of the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
Optimism is greater in Los Angeles and Orange County, reflecting improving strength in manufacturing, Nickelsburg says.
Source: UCLA Anderson Forecast (07/16/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Calculating the New Medicare Tax
The healthcare reform law passed earlier this year includes a little-discussed tax on some forms of real estate transactions.
The tax, which supports Medicare, potentially affects couples with adjusted gross incomes greater than $250,000 a year and singles with incomes above $200,000. Existing home sale tax breaks remain in place.
The tax is levied on the gain figured on the lesser of the sale of the house or the amount by which the sellers’ income exceeds the appropriate threshold.
Here’s an example offered in the Washington Post:
· Profit on home sale: $600,000
· Sellers’ income: $300,000
· Deductible amount under current law for a married couple: $500,000
· Capital gains tax due on $100,000: $15,000
Because the hypothetical sellers’ income is over the threshold, they’ll have to pay the new Medicare tax as well, which would be calculated in one of the following ways:
· Taxable profit: $100,000
· Difference between annual income and taxable profit: $200,000
· Difference between $300,000 income and $250,000 threshold: $50,000
The sellers would pay 3.8 percent on the lower number, which is $50,000. Thus, they owe IRS $1,900.
Source: Washington Post, Benny L. Kass (07/17/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Foreign Investors Bullish on U.S. Real Estate
Foreign real estate investors expect the U.S. real estate market to recover by the end of the second quarter of 2010, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE).
Survey respondents were optimistic about the prospects for good returns, with more than two-thirds planning to invest in U.S. real estate before the end of the year.
About 31 percent said they were more hopeful now about the health of the U.S. real estate market than they were in January, 16 percent said they were more pessimistic, and 53 percent said their opinion had stayed the same.
The 200 members surveyed predicted that Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco would be the first cities to recover, followed by Boston and Los Angeles.
Source: Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (06/17/2009)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Practitioners Say Homes Prices Have Hit Bottom
Real estate professionals are optimistic that home prices will hit bottom in the next six months, according to a survey from listing and home-pricing site HomeGain.com.
About half of practitioners surveyed expect home prices to stay the same in the next six months, 29 percent expect them to drop, and 22 percent believe they will increase.
More than 84 percent of practitioners believe their clients’ homes lost value in the last year, while 12 percent say values had stayed the same. Only 3 percent believe homes had gained value.
Meanwhile, sellers were skeptical of their real estate professional’s analysis, with 69 percent believing their homes were worth more than the practitioner recommended. About 35 percent of home sellers thought their home was worth 10 percent to 20 percent more, and 10 percent thought their home was worth at least 21 percent more than their real estate professional suggested.
Source: Inman News (05/18/2009)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Fight Inflation: Buy a Home!
Some economic analysts say that the possibility that the economy will go into overdrive and inflation will skyrocket is a much more frightening possibility than the current recession.
One inflation hedge nearly all of them point to is real estate. Owning it outright is the best scenario, but if that’s not possible, a low-rate, 30-year fixed mortgage is the next best thing. As inflation drives up salaries, mortgage payments will stay the same, analysts point out.
Source: USA Today, John Waggoner (04/24/2009)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.